A Long Term Evolution (LTE) user equipment (UE) generally uses blind detection to find its physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) channel allocation among the possible channel candidates (e.g., 44 possible channel candidates) allocated by a base station (BS). The PDCCH carries downlink control information (DCI) (e.g., including resource assignments) specific to a particular UE or group of UEs. Using blind detection, the UE is responsible for detecting whether it is the intended recipient of any DCI on all possible channel candidates. The probability of the UE failing to detect that it is the intended recipient of a PDCCH is referred to as the Missing Detection Probability (Pmiss). The probability of the UE detecting that it is the intended recipient of the wrong PDCCH is referred to as the False Alarm Probability (PFA). It is desirable to reduce both Pmiss and PFA, however a false alarm may have greater negative impact because a false alarm can result in an erroneous uplink transmission and unexpected uplink interference.
Blind detection of PDCCH may be used in enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) scenarios. Ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) may also require reliable blind detection. Blind detection may also be used in massive machine-type communications (mMTC). Each of these applications may benefit from greater reliability of blind detection.